Okay God, What have You to Say?

                                                   Okay God, What have You to Say?

                                                   By Dr. Juan A. Carmona


How many times have we heard a cacophony of voices, airing opinions on different subjects, and in the midst of the confusion surrounding the discussions, ask someone, "What is your take on this?"  Or how many times have you or I written a letter to someone asking them what is their opinion on a given matter? This letter might just as well have been entitled "A Letter to God."

We look around us, and either witness or hear about atrocity and tragedy, burglary, murder, rape, terrorism, and so many other things that are destructive to human life.  We hear about children being kidnapped, dragged away by crocodiles, etc.  We ask, "Where is God in all this?" Here I ask a more pointed question: God, what is your take on this?  What do you have to say, if anything about all this?

We experience frustration after frustration with God's apparent silence, or in our failure to get a clear answer from God.  I remember the biblical story of John the Baptizer, sending a message to Jesus from his jail cell. After preaching and baptizing in the Jordan River, and then being incarcerated for no wrong-doing, he apparently became disillusioned and sent his disciples to ask Jesus "Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?"

When we experience disillusion or disappointment in God's non-answer, we raise similar questions. We even ask if we are kidding ourselves by putting our trust in someone who never bothers to answer our questions.

These kinds of questions are not limited or unique to the average every day person sitting in the pews of the church or of whatever faith group they are affiliated with.  Even those of us in positions of leadership struggle with those kinds of questions on a daily basis.  We would be totally dishonest if we were to deny that those struggles are part of our spiritual journey.

As a minister and theologian, I have struggled with those same questions from time to time, as different things continue to occur. I do not have nor would I even attempt to concoct answers relative to the tragedies that continue to happen in our nation and in the world.  So every day, I write a mental letter to God, and await for the answer.  Other than that, I just take the attitude reflected in the Beatle's song, "Let it Be."  I strongly believe that "there will be an answer, let it be."

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen